chapter Thirteen
“I have to say, I kind of admire his thickheadedness,” Dante said when the seven of them gathered at the stone-and-fire ring to discuss the failed mission. “Xav’s pretty tough for a suit.”
“He hasn’t been a suit for years,” Galen pointed out. “Clearly we misjudged that.”
“Put in too much time at Rancho Diablo,” Sloan said. “It tends to put concrete in a man’s soul, gives him focus.”
“And he’s certainly focused on li’l sister,” Tighe said, ruffling her hair, and her six brothers chuckled, well-pleased with their observation.
She wasn’t pleased at all. “I can’t work when he keeps such close tabs on me. I swear I don’t think he even sleeps, because he’s got one eye on me all the time.”
Jace grinned. “And that may be his most redeeming quality.”
“You guys can laugh, but he’s pretty pissed at all of you. He’s not happy at all with your plan to use me to draw Wolf out. He thinks he owns me now,” Ash said with righteous indignation, and her brothers about broke their ribs laughing at her.
Ash sighed and stared over the canyons at Sister Wind Ranch. It was all so close. Maybe no one felt that but her; she didn’t feel defeated anymore. The land at Sister Wind Ranch was alive, despite what Wolf and his men had done to scar it.
It just needed a few well-placed sticks of dynamite and some other incendiary devices to take out those tunnels for good. The feds thought they’d closed them off, but they didn’t understand that all they’d done was slowed the cartel’s efforts. Like ants, with one path closed to them, they chose another.
Sister Wind Ranch was going to be hers, despite Wolf, despite the cartel and despite her well-meaning husband’s attempts to sabotage the mission. Yesterday could have been the day they’d put Wolf behind them for good.
Dead and buried.
Oh, heckfire. I just thought of Xav as my husband.
This is so not good.
He’s really getting into my head with all this marriage talk.
“If you marry him, it would give him peace,” Falcon said, and they all stared at their heretofore silent brother.
“Peace?” Ash demanded.
Falcon shrugged. “One has to consider every person’s goals. In your particular situation, you have a man whose life mission is to make you his wife. Just like your life’s mission is to save Rancho Diablo, he’s not going to rest until he achieves his goal.”
“So you’re saying,” Dante said, “that if Ash marries Xav, he’ll quit hawk-eyeing her.”
“Not totally,” Falcon said. “But it will ease him. He’s fighting for his children’s heritage.”
“I see,” Galen said. “Brother has a point. He doesn’t make them often, but when he does, they’re worth an extra thought or two.”
“That’s the dumbest reason I ever heard to get married,” Ash said hotly. “I’m not going to marry Xav just because he’s turned into my personal bodyguard.”
“He can’t possibly understand entirely why we live the way we do,” Tighe pointed out.
“It’s worth a try,” Jace said. “Hell, we all just got married because we’d finally found a woman who would stick with us despite the insanity.”
“Oh, my God,” Ash said. “Part of me thinks my brothers are totally insane. The other part of me suddenly realizes I could be stuck with all of you for the rest of my life if I don’t seal the deal with Xav.”
“Exactly,” Galen said. “The best part is, you love him, he loves you. You guys have four amazing children. Family should stick together.”
“It’s a different kind of mission,” Sloan said. “But really, what else are we fighting for besides family?”
She saw everything in a brand-new, almost blinding light. “I doubt very seriously Xav will get less possessive and demanding just because he puts a ring on my finger.”
“No, but you’ll have your guy, and isn’t that why you chased him all those years, anyway?” Dante asked.
“Not exactly.” I chased him because he was the hottest, sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on, and I wanted him like nothing I’d ever wanted. He swept me off my feet, and I fell for him like a stone.
“Still,” Tighe said, “you have to admire someone that’s so willing to come over to our dark side. He’s been on Team Callahan from the start, even if we always thought he was all about our baby sister.”
“Actually, I never thought she’d catch him,” Galen said, and they all smirked at that one, nodding.
“You thought that? All of you?” Ash demanded, staring at each of her brothers, seeing by their sheepish faces that the sentiment had been pretty unanimous. “You’re all dumb.”
“So now what?” Falcon asked.
“Now,” Ash said, looking back at Sister Wind Ranch with longing, “now we plan a new mission. The one I think we should have planned all along.”
They followed her gaze across the canyons.
“Ash, I know what you’re thinking,” Galen said, and she held up a hand.
“It’s my land,” she said. “It might be divided up for all of us, but in my heart, I know that’s where we belong and where my children belong.” She took a deep breath. “It’s my fight.”
“I don’t know,” Sloan said. “As ticked as Xav is with us, if we’re going to do this, we have to involve him this time, Ash.”
“I vote no,” Jace said. “Ash, you could go to jail.”
“Or worse,” Dante said, his voice deep with concern. “You could find yourself forced into hiding. Think about the babies. Do you really want Thorn, Briar, Skye and Valor to grow up without their mother?”
What was right and what was wrong? Was not saving the land from the destruction happening to it right? Was not ensuring the Diablos’ freedom a mission of dire need? What about the families who might one day settle on that land, or take their children to a future hospital, or send them to schools and libraries there? Twenty thousand acres could mean much to a lot of people. Lives could be enriched, the land a mother to all.
Could she leave behind four children to understand later her decision to fight for the greater good?
“I could take them with me. I was in hiding with them in Wild.”
“You’d be found. You were found by Wolf and Rhein,” Galen said. “Eventually, there’s no place to hide.”
They fell silent, no doubt thinking the same thing she was: what had happened to their parents and their Callahan cousins’ parents? Did they regret their decision to give up everything, their own lives, their own families?
It wasn’t just about Rancho Diablo. Saving one ranch didn’t mean anything in the overall paradigm. What mattered were people’s lives, and the spirit of a community. So many people had helped them over the years the best they could, unrecognized warriors supporting the fight silently. Mavis Night, Corinne Abernathy and Nadine Waters, for starters. They ran a bookstore and tearoom in town, which wouldn’t be there but for Molly and Jeremiah’s sacrifice so many years ago. People came from as far away as Tempest for their treats and the camaraderie of good friends. What about Fiona’s annual Christmas ball and raffle? Certainly that holiday wonderland wouldn’t be held every year, and folks came from cities and states around for the fun of Christmas enchantment Diablo-style. What about the good sheriff and his men, whose families were here, schools, which educated so many people who returned their skills to the fabric of the community?
None of that would be there if the cartel had been allowed to take it over so many years ago.
Ash shook her head and silently walked away from her brothers, leaving the stone-and-fire ring—their home in their hearts and that which marked her—behind. Her tattoo burned on her shoulder, and her spirit heated with fire. She could feel it spreading inside her, taking over, preparing her for what was to come.
She needed guidance. And there was only one place to get that.
* * *
ASH WENT INTO THE CAVE and sat down beside her grandfather, saying nothing. He was in a trance, and she could feel his spirit humming. His aura was strong, shimmering.
She closed her eyes and let the wisdom wash over her.
It was cold inside the cave, and she welcomed the crisp air. A draft blew against her face, and clumps of snow stuck to the bottom of her boots. She could smell a fire burning in the cave, the scent of wood a warm backdrop to the chill outside. The ground she sat on was hard-packed dirt, over which her grandfather had laid a woven Navajo blanket, coarse and yet beautiful.
So much of Rancho Diablo was like that. And life, too.
She let herself fall into the meditative trance, releasing her thoughts to the greater understanding.
Xav tried to edge into her thoughts, but she pushed him away, then pulled him back to her. To a man, her brothers probably couldn’t understand how much she loved Xav. How much she loved the children they’d made together.
It was all worth fighting for.
She saw the magic wedding dress suddenly, beckoning from a dark lair where it was alone and untouched. The dress hung, a shadow of its former splendidness, no longer sparkling and radiant.
Silver burst inside her mind, reminding her of the wealth of Rancho Diablo buried where Wolf had not yet found it, and where it was guarded by Fiona and Burke. They had been excellent guardians.
Silver in the basement, the magic wedding dress in the attic. The Diablos outside, wild and free. The images coursed through her mind in a dark endless curl through the canyons, led by a beautiful silver mare. The one that had been found trapped in the canyons by Wolf.
They were all trapped by Wolf. The magic itself, and the spirit of Rancho Diablo, was held hostage continuously.
Time, as Fiona had pointed out, would march on, their lives stolen. And yet, life was about sacrifice, duty, commitment to the greater good.
Fire exploded in her brain, flames like those which had consumed the magic wedding dress. A fire that was determined to burn everything in its path.
But then—green. Refreshment and renewal.
Ash’s eyes snapped open and she gasped.
Looked at her grandfather, who hadn’t moved. She’d long known she was Running Bear’s heart. She possessed his spirit, as Skye possessed it, too. The gift of spirit was something that couldn’t be determined or taken, no matter how much Wolf might wish it different.
Even the seemingly smallest gifts one received in this life were gifts to be appreciated and grown, their responsibility to nurture and share.
But to whom much was given, much, much more was demanded. Those were the guardian spirits of the earth, and mankind.
Ash leaned over, kissed her grandfather’s weathered, brown cheek, hugged his shoulders through the worn blanket he was wrapped in and left the cave.